Smarmy Society: Term XXV, Activity 3: Character Replacements

[anbyrobanby.livejournal.com]

Activity name: Character Replacements
Points: 24hr debate: Participation 10pts, Additional comment: 5pts. 30pts limit.
End date: Monday 1st April @ 14:00 UTC
Details: Over the course of the films, some of the characters were written out, assimilated into others, or played by multiple actors. Do you feel this is the right approach? Does the change of face affect how you feel about that character? A 24 hour debate to end the month.



So I was considering my next activity for the Smarmy Society, when I read on the news that the actor Richard Griffiths, who played Vernon Dursley, passed away on Good Friday following surgery complications.

I was reading some of the assosciated articles related to this, and one thing that came up was how he was perceived as "perfect" for the role of Uncle Vernon. This got me thinking- without doubt he was excellent in the role, but had someone else played the part, would it have still been as good? The thought reminded me of when Richard Harris was replaced by Michael Gambon and the ensuing dissonance.

I would like to invite a quick discussion about the synergy between actor and character. If an actor or actress becomes unavailable, walks away from the project, etc, how would you think this impacts on the character role? Would it change? Does a strong actor or actress fit into the role smoothly, and would a transition be smooth? More importantly to the Smarmy Club, would your view change if it were a major role versus a minor one?

I'll give 10 points for a substantial, thought-out comment (let's say about 200 words, minimum). Further comments of at least 50 words will be awarded five house points.

As it's a topic with broad scope I shall not be assigning debate motions here. I would just like to see some free chatter. But of course, feel free to play devil's advocate with each other. I love to see a bit of that over a circle of people nodding among themselves. ;)


_{The Smarmy Society: Because loving the Trio is too mainstream.}

Comments

[anbyrobanby.livejournal.com]

Interesting you should name Bellatrix/Narcissa. Before the films became really established, I had a headcanon casting of who should play Bella (it was a minor-as-hell TV actress who had AMAZING psycho eyes). In appearance, said actress more closely resembles Narcissa than Bellatrix- so to me, for ages Narcissa looked more like Bella than what Bella did!

It's an interesting thing, too- HBC did ultimately own Bellatrix, but I did feel there were times where things were altered round to give her more screentime despite it not having narrative merit (I'm thinking about you, random HBP Burrow attack scene!) I'm fairly sure there were cases of this happening to others, too. I seem to recall how Hermione got a lot of Ron's wiser/more depthful lines, while he remained a goofballsidekick for longer.

rob/gryff

[nearlyconscious.livejournal.com]

Oh that is very relevant. As much as I love HBC-Bellatrix, that Burrow scene came out of nowhere?! And this movie was so badly rhythmed, with tons of things missing I mean really, they had to suppress the Pensieve scene with Merope and put that and awkward Hinny moments instead? Bleh. (I don't dislike Hinny, but on screen it was so uninteresting =/)
And ARGH I hate what they did with Ron. They made him positively annoying whereas in the books, it was much more easy to relate to him, he was more nuanced!

Delphine/Claw

[bergeronprocess.livejournal.com]

Yo, what was up with that Burrow attack scene? That might've been the most egregious example of deviation from the books for literally no good reason at all. Excellent theory that it was really just to let Bonham-Carter showcase her acting chops, but she rocked all the accurate, relevant scenes anyway so it was thoroughly unneeded. Can you tell I have a lot of feels about that scene?

Also, they neutered a lot of Harry's sarcasm/dry wit throughout the course of the series, too!

Emmapuff

[kaitydid33087.livejournal.com]

OMG THANK YOU! I hated that random Burrow scene that wasn't supposed to be there. Probably one of the main reasons why I don't like HBP all that much. But I adore HBC as Bellatrix. She just nailed that roll, and she actually made me love Bella more than I did.

KaityPuff

[interchanges.livejournal.com]

Ah thanks for bringing this up. I do think they changed the character of Bellatrix a little in the movies to more suit HBC. And while HBC is an awesome actress and played Bellatrix well, it is a bit strange that they made her character more than what she was in the books and also added scenes (that Burrow scene pisses me off) so that she could play the character.

Chelsea/Ravenclaw